Dr Pandey added: "It is public knowledge that who will be benefitting by these gas price hikes. This is also widely known that both Congress and Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) has relations with Ambanis. Although Congress and BJP do not miss any opportunity to criticize one another but on this issue there is a complete silence from both parties."
"The manner in which corporate capture of Indian politics and policies and interference of corporations in governance is ominously growing is not only appalling but also extremely against the interests of the poor and the marginalized sections of our society" said Dr Pandey.
Socialist Party (India)'s press release states that the economic policies adopted by the Congress are only benefitting the corporations and the rich. BJP is only going to overenthusiastically implement these same pro-rich economic policies. That is why Ambanis, Adani, and other corporations have fully supported Narendra Modi’s election campaign.
Socialist Party is against the policy of passing on benefits to corporations while the common person suffers. We demand that the entire business of petroleum should be nationalized, cap on domestic gas cylinders be lifted and subsidy be reinstated.
Dr Pandey questions: After all which corporation has a right to earn profit from natural resoures? People have shared ownership on gas and that is why it should be used for common good.
We are opposed to privatization of any form of natural resources such as gas, land, water, minerals, among others, said Socialist Party (India) leaders.
Socialist Party has fielded Rajesh Kumar Maurya as its Lok Sabha candidate from Gonda constituency in UP. Rajesh ji is well known for using Right To Information (RTI) Act, 2005, in Barabanki and playing a key role in fight against corruption locally. If grassroots activists such as Rajesh ji win in the Lok Sabha elections then fight against corruption will get a strong boost and common people will get empowered, said Dr Pandey.
He added: "People of Gonda have to decide whether they will elect those who are violating the maximum election spending cap set by the election commission and spending crores in their elections or will they vote for those candidates such as Rajesh ji who are contesting with very limited resources. Rajesh Kumar Maurya will always be accountable to the people."
Dr Pandey concluded that "There is a wind of change sweeping across Indian politics. People are fed up from corruption. People want to get rid of money and muscle power in elections. With the intention of getting rid of a range of political wrongdoings, Socialist Party has decided that it will only field those candidates who are not only honest but also have a demonstrated leadership on working on people’s issues, so that they can effectively contribute towards bringing in the desired change in country’s politics."
Justice Rajinder Sachar, Kuldip Nayar, Girish Kumar Pande (labour leader), Dr Sandeep Pandey, Advocate Mohd Shoaib, Onkar Singh, Sahdev Singh Gautam, Jai Singh Verma, Imran Siddiqui, Meera Vardhan (wife of grandson of Acharya Narendra Dev), Colonel Vishwanath Rai, Gulshan Bhasin, Uma Shankar Mishra (labour leader), and Bobby Ramakant had jointly issued a press statement on behalf of Socialist Party (India) on this issue.
Citizen News Service (CNS)
4 May 2014